The 404: Ep. 1420: Where we ring and run

The 404: Ep. 1420: Where we ring and run

44:37 /
February 4, 2014

Researchers discover simply talking about movies with your S.O. can cut the American divorce rate in half; a new "one-ring" phone sex scam could bring the divorce rate back up; The New York Times investigate teenagers leaving malls for a place called "the Internet;" and Facebook celebrates its 10th birthday.

-Hey, everyone.
It's Tuesday, February 4th, 2014.
This is The 404 Show.
I'm Jeff Bakalar.
-I'm Justin Yu.
-I'm Ariel NuÃ±ez.
-Welcome to the program, everyone.
Hope you're having a great day.
If you're in the New York area you know what a lot of snow is like.
-Yeah.
-And good for you.
-Yeah.
-Did you hear that-- I'm not joking
about this.
Have you heard anything about like what they plan for-- what they're forecasting for like Sunday?
-Yeah.
Did I see something about 20 inches of snow?
That's gotta be a typo.
-So, somebody told me
-Yeah.
-to look it up because I didn't believe it.
-Uh-hmm.
-He said so as last night at my hockey game, and this dude who's not like one of those guys, he's like, "I read on Facebook"
-Yeah.
-He was a guy who is like, hey-- and he said-- he's like he's really
into weather and he's a member of this like weather forum.
So there's forums out there like weather nerds, just talking about weather.
-Uh-hmm.
-I didn't know that but I've read some of it last night and there's this gigantic, I think it's called like AmericanWeather.com.
-Okay.
-Whatever it is.
And there's like a 38-page thread going on, titled February 8th to the 10th,
-Yeah.
-New York Metro area.
And they're right-- it's still almost too far out to really definitively say what's gonna happen.
-Uh-hmm.
-But
there's-- it's the forums like divided into two parties.
One party is like, oh, it's gonna break up, it's not gonna be anything and then there's a sight of it that says like nope, this is gonna dump like 30 inches of show.
-Yeah.
-On the New York area.
-What are they basing that off of?
Because all the news reports that I saw--
-So--
-some of it is still too early.
-Right.
-There's gonna be snow,
-Right.
-but they haven't said how many inches there are, people were freaking a lot.
-So, get this.
This is kind of-- I mean, look, again, you have to be a weather nerd to really appreciate this.
-Yeah.
-But I think from like our nerdish backgrounds,
we can almost appreciate what it is.
So, these guys have like score cards on how well they've done in terms of predictions.
-Uh-hmm.
-So like some of the guys-- so like there's a dude who's like 10 in 0 and he says like, "Oh, it's not gonna snow." But then there's a guy who's like 15 in 3,
-Right.
-and he's like, "It's gonna snow." Right?
So--
-And these are guys that are judging from how it feels in their phones.
-So they-- right.
Well, they consider themselves like at home meteorologists.
-Yeah.
-And they have access to these like forecasting simulations and you know, the same way everyone else does and they formulate
their own opinions and some of them are educated,
-Uh-hmm.
-some of them are hobbyists.
Either way, it's possible the perfect storm to line up, the stars line up and dump what could be
-Uh-hmm.
-three feet of snow.
-Not in the city though.
There's no way that would ever happen in the city.
-What?
What do you mean?
-But if they mean that we don't have--
-Snow wasn't like seen in New York.
It's like, oh sure we gotta--
-It means that we don't have to go to work on Monday that I'm with the guys.
-Right.
It does-- when you say it can't happen in New York,
-New York City.
-you just mean the same amount of snow would fall,
-Yeah.
-but the traffic in New York sort of dissipates it.
-Right, right, just eat it up, right.
I read this year's Farmer's Almanac.
-Yeah.
-Have you heard about these things?
They're basically like reference journalists that farmers use
-Of course.
-to learn how to-- when to plant crops and things like that.
-It makes sense.
It just basically takes history into account.
-Right, right.
-Right.
-But they break it down for the entire year.
-Sure.
-Every single day for the entire year.
-Sure.
-And so far, they've been pretty accurate for 2014.
-Yeah.
-They predicted that vortex.
-Right.
-And this was written last year too.
So, they said, the Farmer's Almanac said
for next week, it's gonna be really bad.
-It's crazy.
-They didn't say 30 inches of snow bad.
-I don't think it's gonna be 30.
-I thought we're done with it.
-I haven't seen 30 inches here since 90-- I wanna say it was '96.
-Yeah.
-When there was so much snow, it basically paralyzed the entire area for like 30 hours.
-Right.
-And you were just like, all right, I guess I'm not doing anything.
-Yeah.
-I'm going skiing this weekend, so I might be stuck in Vermont.
-Uh-hmm.
-But that's awesome, to be stuck in Vermont when it snows.
-Yeah.
-Like you want that to happen.
-The only guys that work during big snow blizzards like that are the Seamless Web delivery drivers.
-Those poor--
-Those sore cyclists.
And they still only get paid 15%, bump that up to 25% during a snow storm, you assholes.
-You gotta bump it to 20 when there's more-- when there's more than 6 inches on the ground.
-So bad.
-Oh, that's awesome.
Anyway, we'll get to the stories of the day.
First things first.
I want to pimp this contest that we got going on from our friends at GameSpot.com.
Head on over to GameSpot.com/ultimateupgrade
and you can enter for a chance to win the next generation console of your choice,
-Uh-hmm.
-a surround sound system and a brand spanking new TV.
All right?
So, it's not open to us but if you use like a different name, maybe you can enter to win.
-Uh-hmm.
-All right.
So, do that.
Also, Jill Schlesinger was here yesterday and we sort of got talking into the whole addiction thing.
We're gonna have an addiction
specialist, a psycho therapist, I might have made that up but he's definitely accredited in and he's like a doctor and he's official and all that good stuff.
So, if you have a serious question, now look, we covered this sort of stuff with The Sleep Doctor, right?
Like people have serious sleep questions and they always have a question for Dr. Michael Breus or if you have a serious addiction question whether it'd be drugs, whether it'd be sex, whether it'd be internet, whatever it is that you think you might have a problem or know someone who might have a problem, please
e-mail the show and we will relay your questions and concerns to our buddy Josh.
He'll be here either end of the month or beginning of March.
Please e-mail us the404@CNET.com and put the word Addiction in the subject, okay?
Even if you're curious about something,
-Uh-hmm.
-do it because it's important and there's people who need help and we wanna help the people who need help, right?
-Yeah.
-Later on the show, we're gonna-- we have
a special treat for our video viewers.
We're going to be showcasing a brand new toy, not out yet, from Sideshow toys, you know Sideshow Collectibles.
We did a piece on them at ComicCon 2013 and we have a brand new Batman statue that will blow your freaking mind.
So, if you're tuning into the video, make sure you stay tuned 'til the end of the show where we show all that and that's gonna kick all kinds of this.
-Uh-hmm.
-But now, let us slowly ease in
to the stories of the day.
-All right.
So, you guys are both married.
I think I'm the only single guy on this show.
-You asked like you don't know.
-You've been married for, what, three years now.
-Yeah.
-I think it's in--
-About three and a half almost.
-Ariel, you're fresh onto the boat.
-Uh-hmm.
About five months now.
-Five months,
-Uh-hmm.
-for you guys.
How do you guys reconcile this terrible statistic that in America the divorce rate is roughly 50 percent?
-Right.
I've heard of that.
-That's a tough statistic to have to face.
-It is.
-In today's marriage economy.
-It's tough, man.
-What do you think about that?
Is it scary?
I mean, have you guys considered any type of like relationship therapy or things like that?
I mean, you guys are obviously doing very well for yourself but that never crossed your mind, I'm assuming this early in the game.
-Well, I mean, like 50 percent, I don't thin that's that shocking.
-Uh-hmm.
-I feel like there are a lot of people who get married for the wrong reasons.
-Uh-hmm.
-And they probably fall into that category.
-Fifty percent isn't shocking for you?
-No.
-That doesn't scare you?
-It actually seems perfectly right.
-Wow, that's--
-It would concern me if it was like 75, but 50 makes sense.
-Well, that means one of you guys is gonna get divorced.
-I mean, essentially, statistically, yeah.
-So, that doesn't freak you out.
-No, it doesn't.
-Okay.
-Because I don't think we will.
-We'll ask Stacie that same question.
-I mean, it's fun-- I believe that there are people in this country who get married for all the wrong reasons.
-Yeah.
-I also think there are a lot of dummies in this country and sometimes dummies get
married.
-Uh-hmm.
-You know, now, out of the 12 couples, married couples that I'm friends with personally, 12, 15, whatever it is, none of them have gotten divorced.
-Uh-hmm.
-And some of them have been married for 7, 8 years already.
-Yeah.
-That's good.
-So, maybe I'm just not friends with dummies.
-Yeah.
-I don't know.
-Maybe hasn't been long enough.
-Maybe just hasn't been long enough.
Obviously, something like the numbers would say at least 2 or 3 of them should get divorced.
-Potentially later on.
Who knows?
-It probably will happen.
A lot of people get--
-It might not be part--
-A lot of people get divorced, you know, when the kids are out in the house.
-Yeah, they wait.
-You know, they wait, which is you know, I guess unselfish of them.
-Yeah.
All right.
So, for everybody-- anybody out there who's having some type of marital issue, before you consider going to see a relationship therapist together, check out this article.
I thought this was really cool.
We talked about movies a lot but it turns out that according to a new study in the December issue of The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology,
just watching a romantic comedy movie together with you and your spouse where the plot centers a round romance, it can be just as effective as relationship therapy with a board certified physician.
-That's kind of amazing.
-And it can reduce the divorce or separation rate from 24 percent to 11 percent after three years and they're using the three-year mark as, you know, sort of just because you know, most relationship problems arise within the first three years after the honeymoon period is over.
-So, I'm in the clear.
So, I'm in the clear.
-Well, who knows?
I mean, I think
it also depends on how long you guys have gone up before you got married too.
A lot of people get married one or two years of dating.
-Right, yeah.
-You and Stacie have established so much longer foundation.
-Yeah, we've been together over a decade, for sure.
-Right.
-All right.
-So, this is how it worked.
They basically took three groups of people that have marital problems, right?
Two other groups they were assigned traditional forms of therapy.
One of them was where this-- this one spouse listens to the other and then they have to sort of repeat back what they just heard.
-How did that make you feel?
-Yeah, like what did I just say?
-Yeah.
-And just to make sure that there's a mutual understanding of the problem.
-Right.
-Right?
Then there was a second one where they encouraged you know, random acts of kindness, you know, like little notes and things like that, to see how that would sort of strengthen their relationship over time.
That's called like the compassion and empathy strategy.
And then the third group, they didn't spend half as much time trying to fix these problems and instead, just watched a rom-com called Two for the Road.
It's a 1967 movie about young love and then they were asked twelve questions after they were done watching it and that sort of sparked
the conversation about, oh, you know, how do we react to each other in a similar or a different way than what we saw on film?
And how would you have reacted if we have been in that same situation and let's never be like that.
You know, those sorts of conversations happen and the success rate was due to the fact that you know, they were watching a movie together and that could be because they didn't talk to each other for those two hours and thereby extending their relationship two hours of time.
I don't know.
Maybe-- that, yeah.
But
nevertheless, this is a much, much cheaper way than paying some psychotherapist.
-Who would have thought, man.
-Two hundred dollars and hour to fix your relationship problems.
-Who would have thought just like rom-coms not totally useless.
-Are you guys a fan of rom-coms?
-No.
-Not really.
-You don't?
-No, I'm not.
-I don't watch too many of them.
-I'm not crazy.
They're terrible.
-There are some decent ones.
-Name four decent ones right now.
-Love Actually, Never Been Kissed, Fever Pitch--
-Never Been Kissed
is okay.
-Okay.
-Fever Pitch, is that the singing?
-No.
That's with Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon.
-What the-- oh, Pitch Perfect is--
-And Pitch Perfect is a good one too but that's not a rom-com.
-That's not a rom-com.
-That's not a rom-com.
-Yeah.
-And then--
-You just happen to love that movie.
-No-- yeah, the fourth one would be When Harry Met Sally.
Great classic rom-com.
-All right.
I'll give you When Harry Met Sally.
-Yeah.
-And I'll even-- yeah, I guess I'm guilty of watching a few of them.
-Some decent ones out there.
-I even like some like terrible ones like--
-Well, there's the classic ones like Sleepless in Seattle,
is a good one.
-Not a huge fan.
-The follow up You've Got Mail.
Clearly I'm a huge fan of rom-coms which is why--
-Yeah.
-I'm not getting married anytime soon.
-What about the-- like man, that-- what's that movie out now?
That's like it's just dudes but it's for chicks?
-What?
-Do you know what I'm talking about, Ariel?
-No.
-It's like-- oh, That Awkward Moment.
-Oh, right, right.
-Oh, right with Zac Efron.
-How was that a movie?
-I don't even know what that's about.
-It's like-- it looks like Sex in the City but just dudes.
-For dudes, yeah.
That's kind
of a popular thing now.
-Oh, man.
-That's basically what the show is.
-Just put you in handcuffs when you buy a ticket for that.
-Yeah.
But I mean, you guys obviously watch a lot of movies together with your spices.
-Spouse.
-With you spouses.
-Spousi.
-Spousi.
-You just tried to pluralize like mouse the way mice is.
-Yeah.
Spice?
-Yeah, spices, yeah.
-Yeah, you guys watch a lot of movies together.
-Yeah, but we don't watch that sort of stuff.
-Right.
-We watch comedies and like, you know,
weirdo movies.
Her was the most, you know, romantic movie we've seen in a while.
-Yeah, yeah.
Is that like a romantic dystopia?
It might maybe the first romantic dystopia.
-I like that.
Romantic dystopia.
-But I don't know.
What maybe a work here is that it just encourages couples to talk to each other or communicate.
-Well, it makes them feel things too, right?
-Yeah.
-So, when you watch these piles of garbage which inevitably starred Matt McConaughey and like Kate Hudson.
-Hey, Matt McConaughey was really good in--
-In Dallas Buyers Club?
-No, no, no.
Wolf of Wall Street.
-Okay.
-Even though he was in it for 15 minutes.
-All right.
-It was great.
-I heard
he was even better in Dallas Buyers Club.
-Haven't seen that.
-Oh, come on.
Get it on.
-I will.
Homework.
-But yeah, you know, they just-- I don't know.
I feel like the reasoning is that they sort of like make you feel things.
-Yeah.
-And there's always some sort of like you know, climax at the end where--
-Uh-hmm.
-everyone is crying for some reason.
-Right.
-And maybe that's therapeutic in a weird sort of--
-You can relate it to your relationship.
-your life is never that quirky way.
-Yeah,
that's true.
-I don't know.
-Or it could just mean that relationship therapy is total bullshit and that's that maybe what this is proving that--
-I mean--
-even watching a movie could be just as therapeutic.
-Right.
-Do you know of any like amazing success stories resulting out of marriage therapy?
-I feel like once you have to go to relationship therapy, that sort of the Hail Mary--
-Yeah and--
-You're sort of already on the downwards--
-it's just a pre-course to the divorce.
-Yeah.
-It's what it is.
-Right, right.
-It's just like, hey, let's spend a little more money
-Yeah.
-before we get divorced and have to spend a whole lot more money.
-Right.
-Yeah.
-Do you listen to that podcast Here's the Thing
with Alec Baldwin?
-I do not.
-It's quickly become one of my favorite podcasts.
-I will check it out.
-It's really good.
So, it's just Alec Baldwin interviewing luminaries and that's it.
Just like popular celebrities and musicians, etcetera.
But he recently had an episode with Chris Rock.
-Uh-hmm.
-Where Chris Rock talks a lot about his relationship with his wife and how him and his wife, they see each other as equals, which is a lot different from what Chris Rock describes his grandfather and his grandmother's relationship to be.
-Sure.
-Where that wasn't an equal relationship, right?
So,
you know, when his grandmother would, you know, sometimes have her mood swings, which Chris Rock describes as feminine mood swings, his grandpa would just kind of you know, treat her with kid gloves because there was an inequality, it was an unequal relationship based on that time.
-Okay.
-And I thought that I was kind of interesting because, you know, there was-- it's like he was basically saying that now, since him and his wife are equals, it's a lot harder for him to deal with her when she has her female moments, where she gets really emotional and starts crying
because he basically sees her as a friend.
-Uh-hmm.
-It would be like hanging out with you and you start crying.
I don't know where it's like, well, you can't like pull this feminine card now for equals,
-Right.
-you can't just start crying and expect me to be emotional with her.
-Sure, sure.
-So, I don't know.
I think that's like a weird-- it might also have to do with timing, right?
In terms of like how people deal with relationships now.
-Okay.
-You know, like men and women see each other as equals.
So, I don't know, maybe relationship therapy is good now.
-I don't
know.
You're asking the wrong dude.
-Yeah.
-I don't think-- and even if like it came to it, which I don't think it would, I don't think I'd agree to go.
-You wouldn't.
-No.
-See, it's guys like you don't address--
-No, it's just like-- I mean, I don't know, I feel like I don't wanna make a blanket statement but for me, it's like if I have to resort to that, it means I'm not big enough to deal with it out loud in my-- in the privacy of my own home.
-Maybe or you need a third party perspective.
-I need like a mediator--
-Maybe you need like a you know, a lot of times for example, when you and I are dealing with
this show, not to compare ourselves to a relationship, but we always like to have a third person to come in like Ariel for example or--
-Yeah, but Ariel is--
-Somebody who's not deeply ingrained in the show to sort of give us a--
-Well, he is.
That's my point.
He knows the show better than any other-- or than the fourth person out, right?
-Yeah.
-When you go to a marriage counselor, they're just getting the tip of the iceberg.
-They're only hearing what you said.
-The hell do they know about what happens over, you know, how many X amount of years you've been married.
-Right.
-You know.
-What about you, Ariel?
Are you a fan of that kind of thing?
-I don't know.
I don't think I would react very well if let's say my wife said we gotta go see counseling.
-Yeah.
-You know what I mean?
-Yeah, it's like--
-Or someone else's telling you what to do about your business.
-Right.
-Yeah.
-You're like instantly-- you're like programmed to you know, reject that.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
-I don't wanna have that some men or women tell me like what I'm doing wrong.
-Yeah.
-In the 30 seconds he or she has analyzed my marriage.
Go F yourself.
-And then you have to pay them.
Then you have to give them money to do that.
-And you have to pay them a thousand bucks.
-Just watch Titanic.
-Yeah.
-But I think-- I mean, I think if someone
brings it up to you, you might think twice and be like, okay I gotta make some changes.
-Yeah.
-So, maybe I would.
I don't know.
Just hard to think about it, man.
-It's the thought of being threatened with that.
-Yeah, right.
-It's like shocking enough for you to change the way you--
-Yeah, for sure.
-Right.
-act.
-Well, I'm hoping that you guys are never to be in that situation.
-Me too.
I don't really see it happen and--
-Yeah.
-you know, unless she does something really bad because it would clearly be hurtful.
-Yeah, statistically speaking, we'll talk about this again.
-Yeah, for sure.
You know, it's gonna happen.
-To be continued.
-All right, let's--
-Numbers don't lie, right?
-That's true.
-That's true.
-So, moving on to our next story.
God, getting worry about a lot of identity stealing these days.
Everybody wants a piece of who you are, right?
I mean, do you shop at Target a lot?
Were you affected by that at all?
-No.
-Yeah, you don't do that.
-Yeah, well, there's-- yeah, I just don't shop at Target.
-Yeah, yeah.
-Well, it's not just target, right?
I mean, there is a Sony story that came out a long time ago or not that long ago.
-It really doesn't matter where you go.
-Yeah.
-As long as you use a credit card
you're vulnerable.
-You're gonna get scammed eventually.
-You're-- and it will be attempted on you as well.
-Right.
-It's almost a guarantee.
-Well, the key to not getting scammed is to knowing what the scams are before they happen.
-Preemptive scan proof.
-Preemptive scanning.
And you know, this is something that is happening around the country right now.
The latest scam circling our area is a beat and switch tactic known as the one-ring phone scam.
-Yes.
-You guys heard about this?
-No.
-But go on.
-This is happening through cellphones.
So, if you ever gotten a missed call on your cellphone and you didn't even hear the phone ring, you may have, you know, been a target of this scam.
-Yeah.
I think I might have been.
-Really, that's happened to you before and you're like where this number come from?
-Yeah.
So, correct me if I'm wrong.
-Uh-hmm.
-It just relies on consumers.
Do they plant the missed call or is it actually a missed call but they just ring once?
-Yes.
So, it's the latter.
So, basically, a company,
whoever is behind this scam, they basically program our computer to send out thousands of ghost phone calls but those phone calls only ring once.
-It's brilliant.
-And so they show up as a missed call legitimately--
-It's brilliant.
-on your phone.
-Right.
-You don't know where it comes from.
-Would you agree?
-Yeah, a lot.
-Brilliant.
-Sort of, yeah.
And this is how it happens.
You see the missed call, and when you call that number back, it automatically reroutes the number you called, which is in the country to an international call center, an adult entertainment service, basically
a phone sex line that's based in places like Trinidad, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, etcetera.
And when you get connected, there's an automatic 1995 international call fee that your phone charges you.
All of which is legitimate, you just don't know that it was international.
-So, I feel like-- so, what are-- what do the numbers look like?
-So, the numbers initially show up as some random area code--
-But are they like 1-800 numbers?
-No.
There's some random area code,
-So, just random area code,
okay.
-from somewhere in the country.
-So, I wondered if you could be safe knowing if it's a 1-800 number.
-Maybe.
-Like if you have a 1-- a missed 1-800 number call.
-Yeah.
That could be Time Warner.
-Yeah.
-It could be AT&amp;T.
-Yeah.
-And so then what happens is after you get charged this $20 international call fee, then it's $9 more per minute,
-Son of a bitch.
-if you decide to stay on the phone to find out what the service is and of course it takes a few minutes for them to explain it.
-Right.
-Isn't that crazy?
-And they explain it really slowly.
-Yes.
-That's a
good scam though, man.
-That's a good scam.
-I mean, you know, no one likes being scammed.
That's a good scam.
-That's sort of an analog scam too.
-You gotta give them credit for that.
It's smart.
-It also sounds-- it sounds like--
-And you could definitely argue, you know, out of it with the phone company I bet.
-Probably if you didn't know, yeah.
-Yeah.
-And let's say, call my mom.
-Dude, I didn't-- come on, you see what's happening.
-It also sort of sounds like it was written by someone who got caught and then had to cover their ass.
-Right.
-By making up a fake article that was written on BBB.org.
-Right, Better Business Bureau.
-Yeah and
it was like, no, honey, yeah, look.
This happens to everyone.
-See?
Scam.
But not everyone's on the phone for 45 minutes.
-Yeah, yeah.
-Well, you know.
-That's like [unk] tricking to go in a burlesque club afterward.
-I have to be thorough.
-Yeah.
So, you guys can use this also if you've gotten caught red-handed.
-Yeah.
-Who even calls phone sex lines anymore?
Is that even a legitimate thing?
Can we get somebody on the show that works at one of those places?
-I would love to have that.
I was thinking about it the other day with the access to like webcam, you know,
pay services.
-Yeah.
-Like is anyone really still like--
-Or tender.
-Yeah, is anyone still just calling up that 1-- it's like 1-900?
-Yeah.
-They're all the 900 numbers.
-Right.
-Like are any of you people still doing that and paying off on that?
-For $10 a minute and then maybe for what?
Five minutes?
-It depends.
It depends on the day you're having it, you know.
-That's a lot of money that you could take down to your local hustler club and get maybe the same treatment.
-I don't know.
It's just kind of mind blowing to me that there's just so many cooler
ways to do things.
-Yeah, yeah.
-And you're just calling up, hearing like a faceless person.
-Right, from your landline.
-Yeah.
Talking to you.
-Very old thing.
-Attempting to give a crap about what you were doing.
-Yeah.
-All right.
-Grandpa, put the phone down.
-Analog, that's the analog right there.
-That's the analog.
That's the long tail-- that's the control right there.
-It's kind of the theme of this show, analog, right?
The next story is like similar sort of aesthetic.
-Yes.
So, the next story is pulled from the New York Times
last week.
They kind of post this question in a headline.
Where did all the teenagers go?
And that's from the perspective of retailers in malls.
And so, you know, so they're surprised that sales are down at popular mall chain clothing stores like Hollister, American Eagle, Abercrombie &amp; Fitch, those types of stores.
-Oh, hold on while I'll cry them a river.
-Seriously, right?
There's a bunch of reasons that are given why, you know, investors give their own reasons, consumers give and others.
Part of it could be the teenage unemployment rate where they're not having a lot of disposable income, that's sort of the lazy man's response.
But a lot of it might also be that, you know, potential causes could include online shopping's behavior.
You know, teenagers are like leaving the mall for a place called the internet.
-Yeah, I mean, it's not like no one's buying clothes.
-Yeah.
-You know, it's not like, oh, they're all-- they have no money so they're all, you know, wearing old clothing.
-Right.
But they're not hanging out in malls as much anymore,
-Yeah.
-which is such a nostalgic thing for me.
It bombs me out.
-Loitering is like
done basically.
-Yeah.
Did you guys shop?
I'm assuming you guys shop at the--
-Of course.
-Oh, yeah.
-Anchor Blue's and the--
-Anchor Blue's?
What the hell is that?
-Yeah, did you go to Anchor Blue to buy your jeans?
-Yeah, I did.
-At the mall?
-What the hell is--
-In the mall, in the Solano Mall.
-It's a jeans store?
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
It's like-- it was like a--
-It's a chain?
-not just jeans.
Yeah, I think it was a chain.
Maybe it's a West Coast thing.
-Yeah, maybe.
-Definitely.
Never heard of it.
-Yeah.
Anchor Blue Jeans.
They had another name.
Do you remember what it was called?
-Was it--
-I forget but you know what I'm talking about, right?
-Yeah, yeah, I do.
-I only-- like--
-Miller's Outpost.
-Yes.
-Miller's Outpost.
Yeah, I used to go there.
-Oh, that's a little more familiar.
-Yeah.
-Miller's Outpost.
They're sort of like a more budget GAP, more on [unk].
-Like a value city sort of place?
-Something like that, yeah, yeah.
They sold like JNCOs and Jordache Jeans and things like that.
-JNCO's.
-Yeah.
-Man, I wonder if I still got JNCO's in my closet in my parent's house.
-Yeah.
-What's the matter?
-But you could fit that over your whole body.
-I bet I can fit both legs into one sleeve or jean tube.
-Oh, my good-- you know, I didn't-- when I wore JNCO's I never wore the gigantic baggy ones.
-Yeah.
Wait, they had
skinny jeans--
-No, they didn't have skinny ones but they weren't as baggy.
-Okay.
-They were like the khaki ones,
-Yeah.
-with just the J on the pocket.
-Uh-hmm.
-It was.
-No--
-If you're gonna buy JNCO's you're gonna go big.
You gotta like fit them over your head.
-Well, it was like the graffiti just the J with a crown on it.
-Of course.
-Uh-huh.
-That-- and I love-- those were great pants.
-Yeah.
-I would like-- I'm just trying to-- I mean, it's been like over ten years since I've worn them but I remember them fitting very well and being like, man, I would totally--
-I'd wear this for the rest of my life.
-I mean, I wanna wear those again.
They still make.
They're still a company.
-They are?
-Yeah, definitely.
-I've heard they're popular--
-Can you look up the J, the crowned J for me?
-Yeah, I'll look for that.
-I need to see that.
I need to have that kind of nostalgic.
-I remember they're really popular with people that stole stuff like candy--
-Yeah, because you could fit a 7-Eleven in them.
-from stores because the pockets are so damn big.
-Yeah, absolutely.
See, I'm searching right now in Google images,
-Yeah.
-and I don't see any of that J. Try and look up the khaki version and maybe you'll see what I'm saying.
Yeah.
-For people that don't know what we're talking about right
now, so JNCO's were this brand that was popular in the '90s not unlike I'd say FUBU and their claim was this, their most popular product were these really, really baggy jeans that were, I think marketed towards ravers.
-Yeah.
-Ravers and skaters.
-Like candy ravers and skaters and stuff, yeah.
-Candy ravers?
-Yeah.
-What's a candy raver?
-I don't know.
It's just ravers in general.
-Okay.
-And yeah, so they had these huge pockets and here's the khaki ones--
-People used to-- they used to like you know, that's absurd.
-I think those are [unk] pants.
-That is--
no, way, that is what I'm remembering.
Wearing like a parachute around my waist.
-It's ridiculous.
-I'm telling you, man, there was a branded JNCO's that were not absurd.
-I think maybe your mom altered those because she didn't want you to wear--
-My mom altered them.
Get out of here.
-super baggy jeans associated with gangters.
-No, dude.
I'm telling you, the ones I had were not that silly.
-So, another potential causes that teenagers that grew up with the internet, this is kind of interesting from like a fashion cyclical perspective, is that teenagers
like group in the internet are used to faster fashion cycles, you know, based on their exposure to what latest fashion trends are because the internet.
You know, there's like websites like Tumblr, obviously Pinterest is one of those and you know, sites like lookbook.nu,
-Sure.
Right.
-Where it's basically a social network where you can take photos of your outfit of the day, post it up and people will vote on it and there's a leaderboard, etcetera and points you're given.
So, you know, based on things like that, kids are really quick to both jump on and then hop off of
the latest fashion trends.
I feel really old talking about this story.
-It's just the way you say fashion trends.
-Yeah, yeah.
-The latest fashion trend.
-Yeah.
I feel like Walter Cronkite.
-A little bit.
I mean, you are 30 now.
-Don't say that.
-It's aging the hell out of you.
-It's starting.
How dare you.
-Talking about marriage counseling.
-Yeah.
-Talking about all this stuff, old and--
-I gotta replace this Salonpas.
-Yes.
Hold on.
I think you dropped the tube of
Bengay.
-Oh, man.
This is funny though.
According to this article, you know, I remember last week, Justin Bieber's mug shot was released after he was cut for the DUI, right?
-Yeah.
-Well, apparently after that, sales of orange V-neck t-shirts went through the roof because teenagers thought that was he was wearing in the photo was his own fashion choice.
Turns out it was--
-The prison garb.
-The prison garb.
-Holy--
-And so that's how quick they are to go in the internet and like buy up
stuff like that.
-Yeah.
-So, I don't know, maybe that and also American Eagle and Abercrombie are old brands.
No one wears that crap anymore.
-It's scary.
The lack of individualism, right?
-Yeah.
-Like, I don't know.
It was definitely an issue when we were growing up.
-Uh-hmm.
-But now that like everyone's got the same window,
-Yeah.
-to the same world, it's kinda scary.
-Where did you get your fashion?
Who are your fashion icons when you're a kid?
-I can't name any.
I didn't have any--
-It wasn't like,
I think it's mostly bands.
-It's like bands, yes.
-Yeah, it's definitely bands, right?
What about you, Ariel?
-It was all my favorite rappers.
-Yeah.
-Same thing, yeah.
-I used to copy all of gangster rappers wearing Kings and Raiders.
-What were you wearing back then?
-I wore a lot of sports gear.
-People look at you and they're like, man, I'm not gonna mess with that guy.
-Yeah, yeah.
But I mean like, you know, I was just a stereotype.
-Yeah.
-I was just a stereotype.
-Yeah, it's not because what I was wearing.
-I'm gonna need some throwback Thursday photo.
-Oh, yeah.
-I am not gonna lie, Ariel.
If you could do us a
favor,
-Uh-hmm.
-bring in some photos.
-Yeah.
-I'll bring some photos.
-I need to see them right now.
-Okay, yeah.
-I'm imagining you look like Matthew Lillard in SLC Punk when you're in--
-No, I wasn't that over the top.
-No?
Not like really?
-I mean--
-You had dyed hair though.
-Some studded stuff.
-Yeah.
-Nothing like over the top.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Yeah.
-[unk] fashion.
Same thing with bands I think.
-Bands, man.
Like-- just like Ariel said, the music you like.
-Yeah.
-For sure.
-All right.
-Yeah, like ever-- you know, people would-- did you ever have like instances where like
people look at you funny?
-I never had crazy--
-Yeah?
-nothing crazy like that.
I don't have clothes--
-Not have weird stares.
-Really?
-Sometimes in high school.
-Yeah.
Oh, the mall.
There's no malls-- there's no great malls in New York.
That's something that I really miss.
Where are all the sweet factories?
-New York is not a mall city.
I mean--
-Yeah, Capital City is a mall basically.
-Yeah.
The you know, where I grew up, there's a one big mall, that was pretty awesome.
-Yeah.
I miss those malls.
-I mean, I think it's like the mall rats like New Jersey suburban
culture that I grew up in,
-Yeah, for sure.
-that like I have like a sweet spot in my heart for.
-Yeah.
-But you know, I don't miss it.
I guess hanging out with your friends just going in the mall for seven hours, what it seemed like,
-Yeah.
-and like you know, just making a day of it was the thing to do.
-Seven hours?
-I don't know if it was seven hours.
-Okay.
-Maybe it was like four.
-Yeah.
-But you would spend like half the day at the mall and just not do anything.
-Yeah.
Uh-hmm.
-You'd go in and out of every store, you barely would buy anything.
-You never buy anything.
-Almost never.
-Yeah.
-You would-- what I always
do, I always go get a bunch of candy and then walk around the store, in the store and then like eat it, and then, yeah that's it.
Look at girls basically.
-And you just steal stuff.
-Yeah.
-You just like see what you could steal and if you got caught you'd be like, I was gonna pay for this.
-What?
What is this doing in here?
-What?
Huh?
What's this gigantic soda machine doing in my JNCO jeans?
-Yeah, let's all take a moment to think Nordstrom's for their very loose security policy.
Thank you, Nordstrom's.
-Thank you for taking back things with security tags
on them.
-Yeah, yeah.
-I would literally take a thing off the rack and return it.
-Yeah.
I was basically a Diesel Jeans distributor and I always go-- thanks to Nordstrom's.
-These are all jokes, everyone.
-Yeah, they're all jokes.
Don't do that.
-All jokes, all jokes.
Although Justin definitely has a record.
No way, he doesn't.
-Not true.
Last story of the day.
Oh, it's Facebook's 10-year birthday today.
-Oh, very nice.
-So, thank you, Facebook.
-Almost made it--
-For ruining ten years of my life.
-Well, then, it almost made it to the age of Bar Mitzvah because
I don't think it will.
-You don't think it's gonna reach eleven?
-You live a sheltered life, don't you?
It's 13, it's [unk] Bar Mitzvah.
-Oh, really?
Oh, okay.
-You didn't know that?
-Yeah, me, an Asian kid from Southern California.
-I don't know, man.
A lot of Asian people know the Jewish thing and vice versa.
-I think you've also actually told me this before, I just forgot.
But okay, 13.
-Oh, you're just-- you're just like [unk].
-You don't think it's gonna make it three more years?
-I mean, it will, obviously but I don't think-- I mean, look, man, the writings is on the wall.
Like they can't deny like it's
just not as popular as it used to be with teenagers.
-Yeah.
-And I mean, that's the eyes and ears that you want on your website.
-Yeah.
-You want younger people.
-Do you think it has to do with the privacy issue and that people don't want one service that does everything for them socially?
They would rather have a separate service for their micro blogging, a different service for, you know, their photo inspiration board like Tumblr and--
-Yeah.
-you know, the want like Reddit for their news or something else like that, or BuzzFeed for their humor.
-I think it's--
-Is it that or do they just not want?
Yeah, what do you think that is?
-I think it's
a giant combination of a million things.
-Uh-hmm.
-I think the big standout things are the fact that--
-Privacy leaks.
-your parents are on Facebook now and therefore it is uncool.
-Right, yeah.
-The privacy thing, I'm gonna say is nowhere near the top of the list,
-Not for kids.
-because kids don't know or care about privacy.
-Yeah, yeah.
-So, there's that.
I think it's getting too busy, it's too complicated.
-Uh-hmm.
-It's too-- like I don't believe the younger generation
is tech savvy.
I think they just expect things to work and they push buttons but like I want an 11-year-old to like troubleshoot, you know,
-Uh-hmm.
-a problem with the computer.
I think they're way more-- you know, they've grown up with like, you know, this digital world and they just push buttons and things just work.
-Uh-hmm.
-Where we were lucky to grew up with having both sides of like an analog and digital world and when the digital world was starting to become pervasive, we
kind of saw it happened from the ground up and understood like how things worked.
-I guess so, yeah, or we're old enough to have time and the patience to spend looking through settings and things like that.
-No, because that's-- no, because all the stuff I learned about computing, I learned it when I was 12 and 13.
-Yeah, but none of that stuff helps you troubleshoot a Facebook privacy page.
-Holy does.
Well, no.
That's-- no, it does, man.
It's all logic.
It's the logic that you develop as a young person when you are the first generation exposed to
computing on a mainstream level, you have to do the dirty work.
-I guess so, yeah.
-You gotta figure it out, you know.
-Yeah.
-Like kids growing up should be like, mom, dad, why is my, you know, mouse broken?
-Uh-hmm.
-Or something like that.
-You have to open it up, pick the dust and all of it.
That was the mechanical part of troubleshooting your computer.
-It was like you-- and I was reading something where they were saying like there's gonna be like a dearth of IT people.
-Uh-hmm.
-Because you have like a generation coming into the workforce that doesn't know how to troubleshoot things and doesn't understand how things work.
-I think--
-I'm not saying there's not brilliant young coders out there--
-Yeah.
-who make it their hobby.
-No, yeah.
-But I also think they're also afforded the luxury that we miss-- you know, weren't necessarily affordable.
-I would also take the step further and say that, you know, for things that don't work, you know, younger people tend to just jump ships and there's so many different options for what it consumes the same concept now.
-Right, yeah, absolutely.
-So, if Facebook doesn't work, maybe like screw this, I'm going to Twitter.
-Yeah.
-Like if Tumblr doesn't work, they'll be like, screw this I'm going to Squarespace or something like that.
-No, you proved my point for sure.
-That
might be what it is.
Yeah, so Facebook, 10 years old, to celebrate they've introduced a service called Look Back.
-This is kind of cool actually.
-Is it cool?
It just let you do what Facebook, the site, already enabled you to.
-I think it's cool that they were-- that they programmed it.
-So, it's basically the service and here's the screenshot of it that, you know, takes all of the memories that you've put into Facebook and you know, combines them into something like an anthology.
-Uh-hmm.
-Like a really easy to look at
video, a mosaic of photos, etcetera, and a thank you note from Facebook for using their service if you've used it long enough.
-And a plea to never leave.
-Yeah and five bucks just because--
-Just because.
-they love you.
-So, have you been on Facebook for ten years?
-It's a very depressing question to think about.
-I mean, I was definitely-- I graduated college--
-Yes, I have.
-Oh, ten years ago.
Jesus.
-Yeah, I have been on Facebook for ten years.
-I need to
sit on this for a second.
Anyway, yeah, this is-- I'm coming up on my ten-year-- anyway--
-Have you been on any other website for ten years aside from Google?
-Yeah, like GameSpot, IGM.
-Oh, really?
Like CNET.
-CNET of course.
-For sure.
-You know.
-CNET.
-The main stays of the net.
-Thank you.
Yeah, yeah.
-That was when the net was called the net,
-Yeah.
-and the web was the web.
-CNET, still the only people using the word net to describe the internet.
-But yeah, I've been on-- I think I've been on Facebook for more than ten years.
-Yeah.
-Because it wasn't always open to the public.
It was an EDU.
First obviously it was Harvard, then it reached on to more--
-Only for college kids.
-And then it was just college kids, you needed an EDU address.
-Right, right.
-So, I think I've been on Facebook for eleven years.
-Yeah.
Here's what Facebook looked like in 2004.
Do you remember it looking like this?
-Yeah, I do I think.
-Oh, my gosh.
That's crazy.
-Yeah, I remember the bracket logo.
-And then look at those hyper links, it's basically the same thing as it is now just without ads, except for this summer Jewish adventure New York city ad on the left.
-It's just busy, man.
Too busy now.
People don't like busy.
-Yeah.
-Busy is a turn off, you know.
Look, it happens with every great empire.
-Uh-hmm.
-You know.
-This is great.
-It is what it is.
It's sad.
-Look at this.
In 20014, our dude Matt Cahill has his list of favorite music and movies.
Included
in that list,
-The Matrix.
-yeah, Blackalicious, Back, The Streets and Cake.
Everyone's favorite 2004 bands and of course, Wayne's World, Starship Troopers and American Beauty for favorite movies.
-Cake is still doing their thing.
-Yeah.
-Wayne's World remains one of the best films ever made.
-What?
The Nintendo DS Lite was out in 2004?
Oh, my God.
That's crazy.
-That is crazy.
All right.
Well, if you're listening to the audio, this is the end.
If you're watching us, we got a special treat.
All right.
So, check it out.
We're here with Mr. Bruce Wayne.
I'm sorry, Batman.
-Yeah, come on.
-I mean, he's in Batman form right now.
So, this is unbelievable.
This is from Sideshow Collectibles, which is actually celebrating their 20th anniversary this year.
Is anything not 20 years old this year?
-Oh, yeah, Green Day, 20 years old.
-Right.
Everything is 20 years old this year.
Nevertheless, right here is a Batman premium format figure and we got this into us a
few weeks ago.
I can't even like put into words how badass this thing is.
When we first got it, it was a series of like when we're unboxing.
Were you here when we were unboxing it?
-No.
-It was just like a series of like, what?
What?
Like over and over.
You were here, Ariel.
-Yeah, like me and you were the ones like, what?
-What?
What-- so, it's pretty badass.
Check it out.
So, he's got a removable head, so you can take off his head.
It's magnetized too.
Right?
So, if you don't
want Batman looking to the left so much, you could have him just look like, you know, like more casual, and there you go.
He also has a replaceable arm.
Right now he's holding a Batarang.
If you guys don't know what Sideshow Collectibles made, it's like a premium toy manufacturer.
We did a showcase on them from ComicCon 2013.
I'm curious, Justin, how much do you think this guy goes for?
Now, there's only-- they've only made 7500 of them.
They're gonna be shipping in March,
-Uh-hmm.
and this thing is heavy.
This thing is like 25 pounds.
-Yeah.
-I'm not joking.
This thing is rough.
His cape, it looks very flowy but it's freaking heavy.
Also, Ariel, get in on this like tight on him.
He's got-- he's wearing spandex like you can actually like touch the cloth.
This looks creepy now.
-Yeah.
-But you see like the bends in his cloth, like it's actual clothing this guy is wearing.
-Yeah.
-Not to mention it's like one of the--
it's a very badass Batman.
It's not like your, you know, your like old school 1930's Batman.
This guy, he's seen some stuff.
-Yeah.
-All right.
So, how much do you think it is?
-I mean, okay, so--
-Now, consider what you're getting here.
-Yeah, yeah.
-It's just like a premium--
-So, you get two hands,
-Two hands.
-it's pretty big, it's hand painted.
-It's heavy.
It's heavy and this is no-- this is for the serious collector.
This isn't for someone who, you know,
-I feel like we're on Home Shopping Network right now.
-who like saw the Dark Knight and was like, man, Heath Ledger was
awesome.
-Yeah.
-It's for those people too but this is a serious collection sort of item.
I'm curious--
-I saw-- the fact that there's a payment plan offered on the Sideshow Toy website,
-There is, which is good.
-leads me to believe it's not cheap.
-Right, it's not cheap.
-It's limited.
-It's limited.
-I would say $300.
-It's $400.
-Four hundred dollars.
-Four hundred dollars and you can pay over time.
Again, it's not for everyone.
-That's a lot of money.
But it's-- I just--
you know, I feel like we talk about toys all the time.
-Uh-hmm.
-And the-- please don't decapitate him.
Oh, my God.
You killed him but it's fine.
I'll put him back.
What's really cool is like, you can pay over time again.
It's a big investment.
We can't like recommend it to every last person on earth.
-Yeah.
-But if you're like me and you have a typical Batman obsession, like this is something I would put in my house with my wife kicking and screaming in the opposite
direction.
So, there you have it.
I wanna thank our friends at Sideshow Collectibles,
-Uh-hmm.
-for sending us this amazing Batman figure and we've got like more figures coming in that we really wanna share with everyone, which is pretty kickass.
-Yeah.
All right.
Let's smash this thing.
-No, we're not smashing this thing.
-No.
But I thought that was the whole point of this segment, we're gonna smash it.
-It's so funny, we wanted to put this like in our set decoration, it's too big.
We can't fit it in any of the shelves.
-Yeah.
-It really is massive.
You gotta see it to
believe it.
It's so kickass.
-It's not the most expensive thing that--
-No.
-Sideshow Toy offers.
-By far.
-Hot Toys, which is another popular manufacturer of such replicas also offers this.
Check this out.
It's the Batman Armory with Alfred Pennyworth accessory.
-Awesome.
-Look at the detail in his face.
-I mean, you-- I have a bunch of Hot Toys.
You've seen my Hot Toys, right?
Why is that funny?
-I don't know.
-I thought it was real.
-It's awesome.
-It's kinda funny to me and he's just pointing.
-Yeah, because he's--
-You were only supposed to blow the blade doors off of it.
-No, he's like-- I refuse to bury another way.
-Yeah.
-Is what he's saying right there.
-So good.
-Nevertheless, again, thanks so Sideshow.
Thank you for watching.
Apparently, we might be getting like a Star Wars 1 next.
-What are we gonna do with all of these toys?
-The Star Wars 1 I think we'll be able to fit on the show.
-Okay.
-But I wanted everyone to check out this guy because this is something
I would not be upset if someone bought me.
All right.
That's all I have to say.
-I hate the detail on the gargoyle by the way.
-Hey, it's not--
-[unk] really talk too much about the gargoyle.
-It's no joke.
There is serious stuff happening here.
-Yeah.
-But that will end it for us today.
Send us an e-mail, the404@CNET.com, tell us what you think of Mr. Bruce Wayne over here and all this sexy garb.
Man, he's got some thighs on him, huh.
-Yeah.
-Whoa!
Don't wanna mess with this guy.
And let us know again
if you have a question regarding addiction.
Send us an e-mail with Addiction in the subject, enter the GameSpot contest and we're back here tomorrow with brand new show.
Until then, I'm Jeff Bakalar.
-I'm Justin Yu.
-I'm Ariel NuÃ±ez.
-Thanks for tuning into The 404 Show.
High tech, lowbrow.
Have an awesome Tuesday.
Stay warm.
And we'll see you tomorrow.